Actually, many of them were long gone by Friday, set up outside Newark, N.J. to complete preparations for Sunday’s NHL Entry Draft at the Prudential Center.

While general manager Peter Chiarelli was holed up with director of amateur scouting Wayne Smith and the rest of the scouting and hockey operations staffers, the Bruins’ executive branch was back at TD Garden, reviewing the just-completed season – but talking more about what Chiarelli has to try to do in the week ahead.

“With the long season, how late we ended up playing, there’s a lot that has to be done in a short period of time,” said team president Cam Neely, who joined owner Jeremy Jacobs and his son, team principal Charlie, at Friday morning’s press conference. “It’s all going to happen pretty quick, all these decisions. It has to.”

Almost from the moment the B’s lost Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals to Chicago on Monday night, talk has centered on players with expiring contracts, and how the Bruins can re-sign the ones they want most – namely, goalie Tuukka Rask and right wing Nathan Horton – with the NHL’s salary cap about to be reduced from this season’s $70.2 million to $64.3 million for next year.

Team owner Jacobs, also chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors, pointed out that the cap reduction is expected to be a one-time dip, but allows that it comes at a bad time for his team.

“I think (Chiarelli) … has been thinking about it pretty much all season,” Jacobs said. “In a way, it’s a blip … because the cap is going down, but then eventually the following year it should go up substantially.

“It’s living through this pinch, so to speak, in the process.”

Including long-term injured center Marc Savard’s $4-million hit, the Bruins are already within $5.8 million of next year’s cap. Horton ($4 million) and Rask ($3.5 million) combined for more than that this past season, and both are expected to seek significant raises.

Rask, who made the abrupt departure of Tim Thomas painless, is about to become an restricted free agent, theoretically giving the B’s a little more time to negotiate his next contract. Horton, who despite injuries (two concussions, plus pending shoulder surgery) has been a relatively consistent goal-scorer who raises his game in the playoffs, is a different case. As an unrestricted free agent, he can leave for another team as early as next Friday, with the B’s receiving no compensation.

Page 2 of 2 - “With (Horton) being unrestricted, you want to have those conversations fairly quickly – see where they’re at (in terms of salary requests), and where we’re at and need to be,” Neely said. “That’s certainly pressing, but everything’s pressing right now.”

With Chiarelli on record as saying he doesn’t plan to use buyouts to keep the B’s within the cap, the Bruins face the prospect of parting with roster players. They already made the difficult decision to tell veteran defenseman Andrew Ference, an unrestricted free agent, that he won’t be re-signed. Jaromir Jagr was told the same.

The more Rask and Horton want to be paid, the more contracts the B’s may have to shed – or, the more likely it becomes that one of the two free agents won’t be re-signed. Chances are that would be Horton, who can play the free-agent market for the best deal, and take it without giving the B’s a chance to match. Rask can accept an offer sheet, but the Bruins would have the right to match it.

Neely said he’s hoping for “a common ground.”

“We’ll try to do everything we can to keep our group together that we feel should be kept together,” he said. “To try to accomplish that is going to take a little give and take on both sides.”

AROUND THE BOARDS

Neely said center Patrice Bergeron, hospitalized after Game 6 with shoulder, rib and lung injuries, had been released and was “doing well.” … Neely has opened discussions with Chiarelli about a contract extension. The GM has one year left on his deal … Barring trades, the Bruins won’t select until No. 60 overall on Sunday. They traded their first-round pick to Dallas for Jagr … The draft, shortened to a single day because of the lockout, starts at 3 p.m. Sunday and can be seen until 8 p.m. on NBC Sports Network. The NHL Network picks it up after that.